In general, a refrigerator is an appliance with storage space for storing food at a reduced temperature, consisting of a refrigerator compartment maintaining a temperature a few degrees above the freezing point of water and a freezer compartment maintaining a temperature below the freezing point of water. Recent higher demand for ice contributes to increasing demand for a refrigerator equipped with an ice maker that automatically makes ice.
The ice maker may be installed in the freezer compartment depending on the type of a refrigerator, or in the refrigerator compartment if required.
FIG. 1 shows an example of an ice maker installed in the freezer compartment. The ice maker 100 has an ice storage unit 102 for storing ice as shown in FIG. 1, and the ice stored in the ice storage unit 102 may be dispensed to the outside through an ice dispenser unit in accordance with an external ice dispensing signal. In this case, if more ice than a prescribed amount of ice is dispensed to the outside, information is provided as feedback to enable the ice maker 100 to make ice again, and the ice may be introduced into the ice storage unit 102 again.
The ice maker 100 may be further equipped with an ice crushing device for crushing the ice into small pieces if required, and may crush and provide the ice made therein to address a user's request for ice flakes.
However, an additional mechanical device is required to crush or scrape the ice in order to crush the ice and provide ice flakes, contributing to increased installation cost and increased complexity of the ice maker structure. Also, crushing ice may not fully meet the demand for ice flakes of a snow type.
In addition, the ice crushing device composed of mechanical devices and rotational devices generates noise in the process of crushing or flaking ice, and also may experience lowered durability.